As we head into the final Open workout for the year, here's my thoughts:

It's been a party every week! From 5am to our final heat at Friday Night Lights. You brought energy, you brought fun, you bought into the best 5 weeks of the year (only second to our Holi-Wod and Holiday events in December). It's not to say you didn't work hard, you've pushed limits, earned those PRs, crushed goals, gracefully received a few no reps as those judgement eyes were on you, gave out thousands of fist bumps, both virtually and IRL, and you laughed and smiled and met a few new friends you haven't had a chance to workout with before due to your regular class schedule.

The After Party has been equally as fun. From Fuzzy's tacos to Confluence brews & Chipotle to Margaritaville to decorating the entire box as if we were in a float contest for a the St. Patty's Day parade, you did well very crew.

To our 8 athlete 2018 judges: Tim, Andrew, Joe Austen, Meghan, Jordyn, Alyson, Travis, Ami. You got a peek into the "other side". You took the challenge to not only perform the weekly workouts but to understand the movement standards, step up to the uncomfortable area of giving out no reps and you counted 1000s upon 1000s of jumps in 18.3. You had to balance the nerves as an athlete performing the workout to then stepping into the role of judge, which for many, is more stressful than completing the workout. A few of you have come in during morning classes to help judge, giving up the comfort of your cozy bed. A few of you have come in during lunch class to help keep the heats running smoothly so everyone could be judged and get back to work, or you've completed the workout and then immediately stepped into judgment zone for us and then returned to work. And during FNL, it's never a "who will judge next?" You're always more than ready with a clipboard and score sheet. It's given me a chance to be a coach during the Open for a few heats, it's given me a chance to step back, look at this amazing community that has been built and smile with tears in my eyes and be proud of you all. It's given Nick the chance to use his fitness to get the best shots of all the athletes, because let's be honest, we all love to see ourselves working out and maybe those photos will help explain the "what is CrossFit, again?" to our families.

To our coaches: Brett, Bryan, Dan, Dilon, Jamaal, Kristen, Leah, Nick, and Reid. When I asked you to step it up, to bring the best 5 Fridays for our community, to look outside of your workout and schedule and give it to them. You did. You've led our first intramural Open to being something that has even exceeded my vision for it (which you know is hard to do). You've gone from judge, to athlete, to coach, depending on the heat. You've come in on Sundays or early Monday mornings to help judge make-ups or redos, you've stayed later on Monday nights and have always held the standard on what constitutes a good rep. It starts from the top down and when you give your Friday nights to the Box, it gets noticed and it makes the Box a second home, where athletes don't want to leave, and they bring their families to...which also makes for a really late Margaritaville night :).

To our photographer, Nick. You have the hardest job of them all. The easy part is the actual shooting of the workout, it's the hours and hours you spend editing and deleting those "won't get past the #jjp standards of good form and bad angle" You've given up a few vacation days to shoot photos during lunch class and on top of that, you get to deal with me and the late nights setting up, you take command on the constructing walls, hanging TVs, moving things around so the photos look good. You put up with my early mornings of judging and my texts of "to-bring-to-the-gym that I have forgotten at home or need from the store". #nickpilling is the MVP.

To Morgan, the intern. Quiet but mighty. Morgan, you've stayed late Thursday nights to set up, have been at the box before 5am on Fridays, head to work all day and return to FNL, ready to go. How you manage to do the workout, I don't know, because every time I look over or go to check in, your at the front desk, working on team points, assisting others with getting questions answered, and you are our head of music manager, and you show up BIG TIME for your intramural team. You've also been interviewing a few our athletes on their experiences and it's been exciting for me to see what interview pops in my inbox each week. To say this Open has been more manageable, especially adding in more event organization and scores with the Intramural Open, is an understatement. Thank you, Morgan.

To our community: Usually during Week 5 of the Open, I'm more than ready for it, I'm tired and over the Monday score validation, chasing you all down to get it submitted, I'm ready for the regular routine again. Not this year. I can't believe it's Week 5 already, it's gone so fast and it's been so much fun. Little sleep, lotta coffee, but much more fun. My goal for this final week is that we pack the Box with everything Max Oxygen, black and orange all the way, and I want to see our logo all over you. I want to see big smiles, fist bumps, cheers (both in voice and in clinging cans) and whatever Dave Castro has planned for us, bring the energy because you're going to PR. We'll carry over the End of Open fun to Angry Goldfish, where I'm told we will easily take it over this small, neighborhood bar that has amazing burgers.

Thank you for an amazing Open, it's been one where we'll look back upon and be remembered as several things: "the first one at Bell Ave", "Friday Night Lights", "the biggest Open yet", "the one where the shift happened". As I reflected on our 2017 Year in Review, I wrote that I was thrilled with the potential 2018 holds, I could feel it in my gut that it was going to be great. And it's met my expectations so far and we're not even half way into the year. So hold on, the energy doesn't stop as the last rep is counted for the 2018 Open.

Next up, the Jesus WOD, Operation Strength, ladies wine night, Bros and Beers, Viewings of "Ogar: Will of Steel" and "The Redeemed and Dominant: Fittest on Earth" oh, and an end of construction date!